Penn. Mayor Officiates at Pride Commitment Ceremony
The mayor of State College, Penn., presided over the commitment ceremony of four same-sex couples on Mar. 29, to the cheers of a crowd of GLBT people and their supporters. Anti-gay churches had a presence, also, at the event.
Bill Welch said that the ceremony, which marked the start of Pride Week at Penn State University, was unique, at least locally; "It was one of a kind [in the area], as far as I know," said the state College mayor, though he then cited the mayor of Philadelphia, John Street, for having performed a similar service, reported a Mar. 31 article in the local newspaper, the Daily Collegian.
The Daily Item.com also carried a Mar. 31 article on the ceremony, which carries no legal weight in Penn, a state in which marriage equality is banned and there is no provision for civil unions for gay and lesbian families.
The event took place at Penn State University, at the Alumni Hall, reported the Daily Item.com., which also reported that a crowd of about 500 onlookers cheered the four couples. The event was prganized by the Coalition of LGBTA Graduate Students.
Two sets of grooms and two sets of brides celebrated their symbolic joinings with rings and kisses, reported the Daily Item.com.
Said one of the brides, Delia Guzman, "We were really nervous, all of us," but then "everyone cheered."
Said Guzman, who went through the ceremony with Kat Sinclair, "From that point, it was like we were walking on air."
Said the student group's president, Tom Koerber, "The room was packed, and the opposition was almost non-existent."
Several groups did show up to protest the event, including a Penn State student organization called Orthodox Christian Fellowship, Faith Baptist Church of Altoona, and the Penn. Family Values Coalition, an anti-gay, anti-marriage equality group.
Said Rev. Gary Dull, chairman of the Penn. Family Values Coalition, "We are not here to show hatred, though some people might think that."
Added Dull, "But we are here to teach the truth of the Scripture and the family."
The Orthodox Christian Fellowship stood outside the hall with religious statues and tried to being protest signs into the space, but were turned away because no signs are allowed in the hall, reported the Daily Collegian.
Said OCF president Daniel Andresen, "We're not against the individuals," and said that his group's view was "more like hate the sin, not the sinners."
Meantime, the families that conservative doctrine calls into question were joined in celebration by the state's Human Relations Commission chairman, Steve Glassman, who read at the ceremony.
Glassman, who was introduced as the state's highest-ranking openly gay official, said that "It would be impossible to witness this extraordinary sharing of love and commitment to one another without being profoundly moved," the Daily Collegian reported.
John Street, then-mayor of Philadelphia, had officiated at the commitment ceremony of one of his staff last November, the Daily Item story recalled.